IZ*ONEshots

Tattoo Shop AU (soulmateeeee) - Kangbi

i spelled tattoo wrong an embarrassing amount of times. also i missed you all so much i could cry. also, i was trying so, so hard to write in past tense because i started out in past tense, but present tense just calls to my soul, man. anyway, watch out for deficiencies in verb tenses (the last section is purposefully in present tense, tho. ran out of patience for past tense), and for all of which, i apologize.

hello again, loves. it's been a while :)

TW: mentions of alchohol, drugs, and suicide bc i write about happy things like that.

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"You did not!"

"I did!" Yujin yelled, voice metallic and muffled through the phone.

"She- you-" I exhaled explosively, trying to breathe out any acute emotions, though the smile that worked its way onto my lips wasn't planning on going any time soon. "Jin, you've known her for, like... what, your whole goddamn life?!?"

"I know! I'm just so-" She chokes out a happy-sounding "blagh" before bursting into giggles. It had been a long time since Yujin had acted like a lesbian thirteen-year-old watching Emma Watson in the fifth Harry Potter movie, and I relished in its familiarity.

"You're such a moron," I said fondly, pinching my phone between my shoulder and my ear, fishing my keys from the back pocket of my jeans.

"Real talk, though... I'm so glad it's her."

"I'd be surprised if it was anyone else. God, how did you just figure out?"

Yujin cackled, a strange staticky sound on the phone. "Funny story. Remember how Minju had that odd obsession with strip checkers? I know, she totally came up with it, 100%, but it's fun to pretend like she didn't. Anyway, Won was dying, like, losing by a goddamn avalanche- shut up, an avalanche is just a mega landslide! Oh what, I can say "losing by a landslide" but not "losing by an avalanche"? Dude, 'avalanche' and 'landslide' are essentially the same freaking word..."

Putting Yujin on speakerphone, I let her rant pour over the little shop, my little shop, as I got ready for the morning. There wasn't much to do - I flipped the light switches, turned on the strings of tiny white LEDs hung around the ceiling, and wiped down the front counter. Yujin had finally gotten to the part about how she'd seen Wonyoung's tattoo - a camera, just like hers - on her ribcage, which did give a logical excuse as to why she hadn't seen the tattoo before then. Yujin's own was on her hip.

As I brought out my equipment from the back, I couldn't help but marvel at how perfect the camera was for the two of them. Tatoos were supposed to have some sort of symbolism after all - a first meeting; a reoccurring activity, or motif, if you will; a depiction of the people whose souls were bound together. 

Wonyoung and Yujin had met (as Yujin had told me many, many times) in third grade when they spotted the security camera particularly close to their desks during art. Alone, they couldn't reach it, but with Wonyoung on Yujin's shoulders, it had only been a matter of minutes before the whole lens was covered in not one, but three layers of paint illustrating a beautiful rainbow.

The two had a knack for finding cameras, which made for a great many of our group action shots being rather annoyingly (and hilariously) photo bombed, both seemingly aware of whenever they were being photographed. The only exception was when they took pictures of each other, as they knew each other's camera-finding tricks. Wonyoung's walls were covered in polaroids of Yujin, Yujin's big, black camera containing candid after candid of Wonyoung.

As long as I'd known them, they'd always been like that: caught up in themselves, knowing the other's habits and ticks, seeing their truest states through a lens no one else could seem to catch them in. Not particularly needing pictures of anyone else. The camera was annoyingly perfect, just like the two of them together.